Remnant: The Beta Test
by Bowenross
Summary: We all know the gamers, but we don't know about the testing that goes on behind the scenes. Bugs and exploits, ahoy! (Not SI)
1. Game Start

**A.N.- Heyo, just here to say that I do not, in any way, own RWBY. All rights belong to Rooster Teeth. This story is inspired by other Gamer fics and** _ **Forged Destiny**_ **by Coeur Al'Aran. I recommend that you check it out if you haven't already.**

 **0-0-0**

 **~Hello! And welcome to the World of Remnant: Beta Test Realm.~**

"Oh gods, my head." A figure sprawled on the ground moaned, holding their hands against their head. It was as if they were made of plastic, their entire being was a smooth white and completely androgynous. "Where the fuck am I?"

 **~You are one of the lucky few to have been selected to partake in the beta testing for World of Remnant. In this realm, you will not run into any of the other testers. This is so we can get clean data.~**

"That still doesn't tell me where I am." The figure looks around, into the infinite black void. They look down to their feet. "Where the fuck are my clothes?" They inspect themselves. "And where the fuck is my *****?" They held their hand up to their face, where their mouth would be. "Did you just censor me?"

 **~Yes, and we would appreciate it if you would not say something like that without telling us first. Would you like to enable the "Mature" rating for your testing time?~**

"Of course I would! That's like asking someone if they want salt on their fries."

 **~Okay, it has been done. Now, it's time for character creation! Within the beta, we have made character creation and class selection. With class selection, you will be given guaranteed skills as well as the ones that you can learn normally within the world. Let's get class selection first.~**

 ***Dragoon***

 ***Kaiser***

 **Warrior**

 **Thief**

 **Archer**

 **Mage**

 **Gunman**

 ***Paladin***

 **(Page 1/3) Continue?**

The person shook their head and read over the list again. They hovered their finger over dragoon and tapped it once, wondering what the little stars were indicators for.

 **Dragoon: These mighty lancers are masters of the lance, able to take on armies by themselves. Their name derives from how they like to wear armor that looks like dragons, and they rain death from above with their** _ **Jump**_ **and** _ **Descend**_ **skills.**

 ***This class is an advanced class.***

 **Do you wish to choose this class?**

 **[Yes][No]**

The figure shook his head and tapped the no option. They didn't like lancers that much, preferring instead a hammer or two-handed sword. They did like the dragon themes though, dragons were cool. Choosing to just go down the list, they tapped on Kaiser.

 **Kaiser: This fierce warrior is one of a kind. Literally. Only one Kaiser can be in existence at any one point. Having the soul of a dragon gives this class multiple advantages. They may switch out between offense and defense, working as excellent mob sweepers or boss tanks. They swing a mighty sword and deal explosive and fire damage attacks.**

 **(WARNING: This class will identify you as a {Faunus}, increasing difficulty.)**

 ***This class is an advanced class.***

 **Do you wish to choose this class?**

 **[Yes][No]**

"What's a Faunus?" The person thought over this class for a second before tapping yes. "Screw it, who cares about increased difficulty? Dragons."

 **~Wonderful! Now that you have chosen your class, it's time for character creation. We should let you know that Kaisers are only males, so the choice to create a female character will be blocked.~**

"Then you should put that in the description of the class instead of telling people after they have chosen it." The person looked over the creation tools and was disappointed by the relatively small menu. "For a character creation, there's not really much here to work with."

 **~We're working on it. This is from the base game, and an updated version won't be out for another two patches.~**

"Fine." Hair first. After scrolling through all the options, the person went with the undercut option. Deep red was chosen as the color and the eyebrows changed as well. "I wonder if the carpet matches the curtains?" Skin color was set to tan, because nobody wanted to be deathly pale and choosing anything darker seemed weird to the person. The eyes were set as an average pair, though gold in color. Next were clothes, and a standard red t-shirt and ripped grey jeans were equipped. A pair of black sneakers went on the feet.

 **~Oh, we should have told you, the Kaiser class gets an armor set in the beginning. So, choosing your clothes was just wasting time.~**

The man smacked his face, groaning in annoyance. "I swear, if this is what you're like with all the other beta testers, I feel bad for them."

 **~Awesome! Now that your character is created, would you like to do the tutorial? OR would you rather be dropped straight into the game?~**

"Drop me straight in please, I fucking hate most RPG tutorials. They're way too long." The man was startled when the surroundings immediately went from the void to a dank cave. "Some sort of warning would have been nice, you know."

 **~Duly noted. Since you have chosen to forgo the tutorial, you have been awarded ten free levels and a six hour EXP buff. Good luck and have fun!~**

"Okay, game system voice." The man took stock of his surroundings. It was still a cave, still just as dank as it was a second ago. So, nothing new. "Status."

 **Name:**

 **Title:**

 **Level: 10**

 **EXP: 0/1,242**

 **HP: 1,000(+20%)=1,200 (+)**

 **MP: 500 (+)**

 **AUP: ?**

 **STR: 5 (+)**

 **DEX: 5 (+)**

 **WIS: 5 (+)**

 **INT: 5 (+)**

 **LUK: 5 (+)**

 **CHA: 5 (+)**

 **AP: 25**

 **Auto Assign?**

 **SP: 3**

 **-Skills-**

 **Defender Mode: Increase defense and health, gaining the ability to take more hits.**

 **Offensive Mode: Increase attack rate and damage done.**

 **Vertical Grapple (MAX): Need a boost and there's something above you? Send up a magical grapple and shoot into the air.**

 **Transfiguration (MAX): This will allow you to unlock your full potential once the gauge is filled: (Gauge default position is in the upper right-hand corner of the HUD)**

 **Iron Will (MAX): This gives you more health, not much else to say. (+20% HP)**

 **Sharpening (MAX): Cost- 30 MP. Casting this blessing increases nearby allies attack power by 4% for 40 min. Cooldown is 2 hr.**

"Auto assign? So that puts it into the most relevant stat for my character. No name too, so I guess that comes later. And what the fuck is AUP?" He taps the question mark next to the AUP stat and gets and error message.

 ***You have not unlocked this stat. Learn more about it out in the world.***

"Damn scrooges, not unlocking something but showing it in the stat screen in the first place." He hit auto assign and a new screen popped up.

 **Auto Assign 25 AP to STR?**

 **STR: 5 - 30**

 **[Yes][No]**

"Cool, strength is the main stat I guess." He presses the button and a twinge of pain runs through his body. "Ow, fucks…!" He shakes out his limbs and rolls his wrists out. "So, I'm in a cave and I probably need to find the nearest town. First, find a way out of the cave." He looks down one way and then the other way. "Eh, right it is." He begins walking down the tunnel, the boots of his new armor clanking against the stone. As he walks, he takes a glance at his armor. It's a deep but bright red color, accented by a gold trim. It's easy to tell it's a heavy armor type, but made light by some sort of magic or something. Also, it was heavier on the top half, with the lower half being covered by a sort of ornate cloth and from the knees down in actual armor.

At his hip rested a large sword, what he might call a buster blade, but he wasn't certain what it was. He looked at it for a few seconds before a message appeared in the air.

 **For continuous observation of something, the skill** _ **Observe**_ **has been created.**

 **Observe (LVL 1): See what, or who, something is. Read, read, read.**

"First real skill from the world, seems basic though." He looks at his sword again. "Observe."

 **Kaiser's Training Blade**

 **The basic blade of Kaiser. Used when first starting out.**

 **ATK: 20**

"That's actually a pretty good attack rating for something that I get for a starting weapon. I would have hated being stuck with a branch or something." A crunch that wasn't from him made him stop in his tracks. A wet clicking noise emanated from down the path he was heading. "That sounds bad?" A skittering sound and the crunching of rocks sounded again, and whatever was making the sound rounded a bend in the tunnel.

 **Pete**

 **AREA BOSS**

 **X LVL: 50 X**

 **WARNING: Enemies marked by two X's will be nearly impossible for you to defeat alone. Retreat, or die.**

"Nope." The man turned around and bolted, and the monster let out a piercing shriek. He heard the monster give chase and he put even more effort into running. He saw a light at the end of the tunnel and thanked whatever gods there were that he was almost out. He burst from the cave and took an immediate right, hoping it would be enough to shake off the monster. He heard it come out of the cave but didn't hear anything else, so he slowed down. He must have gotten out of its aggro range.

"Wonderful, just peachy. Skip the tutorial and get put in a spot where a boss monster is. Something definitely needs to be fixed there." He took a deep breath and let it out. "Still alive though. Wait, if I die in the game do I die in real life?"

 **~This is real life now. So yes, you die in the game you die in real life.~**

"Oh for fucks sake!" He kicked a tree, making a dent in the bark. "Where to now? Do I at least get a compass? Or a mini-map?" A small compass appeared in the upper left-hand corner of the HUD. "Thanks." The cave he had come from was north of his current position, and he wanted to put as much space between him and it as possible. So, he started to walk south.

0-0-0

Oh, how boring this was. He had spent two hours walking and observing anything new that appeared in his path. Observe had gained three levels, three! No enemies had appeared either, which was weird. The area outside of any towns should be populated by monsters, unless it was an event area. But, walking for two hours in a straight line proved that it was a bad event area. If he could at least find a road, he would be happy at this point. His stomach growled. Maybe something to eat would also be appreciated.

"Help!" A voice sounded off to his right, and his head snapped in the direction before he sprinted that way. "Anybody!"

"Ain't nobody gonna help you, boy. Now hand over your stuff and you might make it out of this alive." The man burst onto the scene, where a group of what appeared to be bandits surrounded a young man. "Who's the fuck is ya?"

 **Bandit Grunt**

 **LVL: 8**

A glance at the other bandits showed that they were all the same level. "Doesn't matter who I am. Let him go."

"Fuck you, freak!" The bandit charged him, and he drew the training blade. It seems like this is going to be bloody.

 **Quest Start!**

 **Defend the traveler**

 **Special Task (?)**

 **EXP Gain: 1,000**

 **Special Loot (?)**

 **Mandatory Acceptance**

He blocked the first swipe, before stepping out of the bandit's range. He swung his blade down on the bandit, and a brief flash of grey light surrounded his body. Before he could attack again, an arrow bounced of his armor. He darted back into the cover of the trees, looking for the archer that fired at him. He spotted him near the back of the group.

 **Bandit Scout**

 **LVL: 9**

This bandit scout was priority target number one. Slinking back further into the cover of the trees, the Kaiser began to circle to the back of the bandits. It seemed that they had forgotten about the young man they were robbing in favor of saving their own hides. When the Kaiser had gotten around, he unleashed a heavy overhead slash against the scout. Like a ripe watermelon, his head split, and grey matter and bits of skull went flying. Alerted by the sound, the rest of the bandits turned around.

He was on them faster than they could react. Two strikes against each was enough to kill them, the strange glow going off at the first hit. The final bandit had decided that this was enough, and he tried to run away, but he received a sword to the back as a reward for his cowardice. As he was wiping his blade clean on the cleaner part of the bandit's clothes, the Kaiser checked the loot he had gained.

 **+300 Lien**

 **+5 Bone Fragments**

 **+Iron Sword (Damaged)**

 **+Bandit Pants**

 **Quest Completed!**

 **Reward: 1,000 EXP**

 **Special Task: Failed**

 **[X] Special Task: Don't kill the bandits**

 **[X] Special Loot: Bandit Outfit**

 **6 Bandit Grunts (17 EXP) + 1 Bandit Scout (20 EXP) = 122(2) = 244 EXP**

 **Level Up!**

 **Defending someone who couldn't defend themselves gives +1 CHA!**

"Hey, you good now?" The Kaiser looked over to the person he had just saved. They didn't really scream traveler, more like new adventurer. There was a sword on his hip and a shield strapped to their back underneath a pack. They also wore a small breastplate and light gauntlets.

"Yeah, I think so." He got up and dusted himself off. "Thanks for helping me out there. I would have probably been a goner if you didn't show up. "Oh, uh, the name's Jaune Arc. What's yours?"

The Kaiser thought for a second before he responded. "Rubeus Mors. Pleasure meeting you, Jaune Arc." In his head, Ater said 'Observe', hoping it could be used without speaking it.

 **Jaune Arc**

 **KniGhT**

 **LVL: 7**

There's something up with his class. This Jaune Arc was hiding something. And Rubeus loved finding new things out.

0-0-0

 **Name: Rubeus Mors**

 **Title:**

 **Level: 11**

 **EXP: 2/1,242**

 **HP: 1,150(+20%)=1,380 (+)**

 **MP: 550 (+)**

 **AUP: ?**

 **STR: 30 (+)**

 **DEX: 5 (+)**

 **WIS: 5 (+)**

 **INT: 5 (+)**

 **LUK: 5 (+)**

 **CHA: 6 (+)**

 **AP: 5**

 **Auto Assign?**

 **SP: 6**

 **-Skills-**

 **Defender Mode (MAX)**

 **Offensive Mode (MAX)**

 **Vertical Grapple (MAX)**

 **Transfiguration (MAX)**

 **Iron Will (MAX)**

 **Sharpening (MAX)**

 **Observe (LVL 4)**

 **A.N.- Hey, just wanting to know if people want a Char sheet at the end with skills, with gained skills (meaning gained that chapter), without skills, or not at all.**


	2. Adventurer Town

"So, uh, Rubeus?" Jaune was following behind Rubeus, dodging any stray branches that whipped back in the low branched trees.

"Yes, Arc?"

"What exactly is a Kaiser? I mean, you look like a warrior, but I've never hear of Kaiser."

Rubeus stopped and Jaune almost ran straight into his back. The clanking of materials was the only sound in the forest for a second before Rubeus turned around to face Jaune. Rubeus wondered how Jaune had seen his class before he realized there was a slight shimmer above Jaune's head. Further inspection on that showed that it was the class name. It seemed that people had their classes displayed above their heads in this game. But, in this case, it was just the normal 'Knight' instead of the distorted text it had been with observe.

"I guess you could say it's a specialized case of the warrior class, mainly focused on fire attacks. That's all I'm willing to tell you for now." Rubeus knew that it would be foolish to trust someone that you haven't even spent three hours with. A glance at the clock in the HUD showed that it was nearly three pm. Hopefully they reached this 'Beacon' Jaune had spoken of. Rubeus didn't have any camping materials.

"Um, okay thanks. So, you seem… experienced?" Jaune winced when he said this, most likely remembering the bandits that Rubeus had killed. Shortly after introducing himself to Rubeus, Jaune had gotten a good look at the bodies and hurled. For someone that was supposedly a knight, he had a weak stomach for gore.

"No more so than the next person. It was only a necessity at the time. It was them or us, and I much prefer being alive." Rubeus turned back around and began to push through the branches again. "How much further until we reach this town or city, whatever it is?"

A rustling of paper was heard as Jaune pulled the map from a pocket. "Hold on a second, let me just find out where we are." Rubeus stopped again and held back a growl. "Which way are we heading right now?"

"South."

"And how long ago did we enter this thicket?"

"About an hour, give or take fifteen minutes."

Jaune rolled the map up and stuck it in the pocket it had come from. "Then we have about another two hours until we reach Beacon! This thicket should thin out in thirty minutes when we reach the cliffside, and then we'll be able to see the city from then on. As long as we don't run into any Grimm or more bandits, we should be fine!"

Rubeus scrunched up his face, wondering what in the world Grimm were. Then he remembered the monster in the cave. It looked like a gigantic scorpion, only black and covered in bony white plates that had glowing red lines and burning red eyes. That must be what a Grimm is. Then he brought a hand to his face and groaned. "God damnit, Arc!"

"What, what's wrong?" He looked confused and Rubeus rounded on him.

"You just had to go and fucking jinx it, didn't you? Knock on wood real quick before it sticks."

Jaune looked perplexed before he rapped on the nearest tree twice. "And that helps how?"

Rubeus shook his head. "It doesn't really, just makes me feel better. Just know, if we get into a mess, it's your fault." All of a sudden there was a tingle down Rubeus' spine and a text box appeared.

 **Through special alert status, the skill** _ **Detect Danger**_ **has been created!**

 **Detect Danger (LVL 1): Detect enemies within a 5-meter radius. [Does not detect foes using stealth techniques]**

 **Detect Danger level up!**

 **Detect Danger level up!**

"Down!" Rubeus didn't wait for Jaune to act, pushing him down instead. And he did so just in time, as five black shapes burst from the trees surrounding them. Not wasting any more time, Rubeus tore his blade from his hip and aimed it at the nearest enemy. " _Observe._ "

 **Baboonas (5)**

 **LVL 13**

They looked like monkeys, but not baboons. More like the smaller ones, spider monkeys? Rubeus didn't have any chance to ponder further as they attacked. He dropped and let two sail over his head while he swung at the other three. When the sword hit them, it crushed the three into a tree but didn't kill them. There were gashes in their white chest armor and damage numbers appeared out of the air.

 **153, 154, 162**

" _That doesn't tell me much when I don't know how much health they have. Health bars would be nice here."_ Apparently the other two deemed Jaune to be unworthy of their time and he was too busy cowering behind his shield. They attacked Rubeus from the back, scratching bone white nails against his armor. One got lucky and scratched between two plates, dealing forty damage. " _That's negligible damage! Offensive mode!"_ Rubeus felt the shift in his muscles and he did a 180, catching the two behind him in a wide swing.

 **187,190**

He grinned, a glint appearing in his eyes. That was more than a ten percent increase in damage! And using offensive mode meant that he could swing the sword one-handed! He could continue on attacking multiple at a time, but that was obviously inefficient as shown by the bandits. Single target was his priority at the moment. He zeroed in on the Baboonas that had taken the most damage and tried to slam his blade down on it, but it dodged out of the way while one of its brothers slashed at Rubeus' face. Fifty damage.

He needed to immobilize them somehow before attacking… " _Vertical Grapple!_ " He shot up into the trees and the Baboonas followed. It was only a second later that he was back down on the forest floor, his blade pinning down one of the Baboonas.

 **Critical Hit! 546!**

The Baboonas was already dissipating when Rubeus shot into the trees again, repeating the process four more times. He just crashed through branches while the monkey-like Grimm were forced to traverse them normally. He cleaned his blade of any residual Grimm blood before the last monster disappeared. And thank the developers that Auto-Loot was enabled by default. He would hate gathering every little thing dropped.

 **5 Baboonas (150 EXP) = 150(2) = 300 EXP**

 **+1 Grimm Plate (Minor)**

 **+350 Lien**

 **+2 Dull Fang**

 **+Rugged Pelt**

"Is… is it over?" Jaune, still crouched under his shield, asked pitifully.

"Yes, it's over." Rubeus pulled Jaune up by his collar, dusting him off. "Let's get moving. The noise would have alerted others." He cut Jaune off before he could open his mouth again. "And no speaking. We don't want to jinx anything further." Jaune shut his mouth and nodded frantically. " _Menu, options, gameplay._ " The gameplay options popped up. " _Turn off damage numbers._ " They would get annoying in battle. " _Auto Assign AP on level up._ "

The two made their way through the forest as quietly as possible, not wanting to run into any more of the monkey Grimm. Rubeus because he didn't want to do all the work again and Jaune just because he was scared of them. There wasn't much he could do against faster enemies with his current skill set. They reached the cliff edge without running into enemies and they saw their destination. It was easy to tell that it was Beacon, as it had a giant green gem of some sort stuck in a tower right in the center. That would certainly be a guide for travelers.

"Where are we getting down at?" Rubeus looked around, but didn't spot any kind of decline that would allow them to get down easily.

Jaune rubbed at his shoulder and hiked his pack higher on his back. "I was hoping you'd be able to maybe fly us down."

Rubeus looked at Jaune and his eyebrows rose. "Fly us?"

Jaune nodded. "You have wings, so maybe you'd be able to give me a lift as well? Please."

Rubeus rolled his shoulders out, feeling for any new muscles. He felt a twitch and pulled in his core. Two red and black draconic wings burst from his back, being centered on his middle back instead of on the upper back. It would seem that whoever designed this realized that those stupid normal pictures of humans with wings were completely wrong. "Hmm, I don't really know if I can lift both of us with your pack."

"I could put it on a rope and see if I can lower it to the ground at the base of the cliff." Jaune took the pack off his back and rummaged through it before pulling out a coil of rope. It didn't look long enough to reach the base.

 **Quest Start!**

 **Fly down the cliff.**

 **Objective 1: Get Jaune down**

 **Special Task (?)**

 **EXP Gain: 250**

 **[Accept][Decline]**

Rubeus scratched at his cheek in annoyance. There was no guarantee that his wings would work in lifting even him, let alone another person. Then, there was also the fact that Jaune had probably taken flying down the cliff into his estimate for how long it would take to get to Beacon. While Rubeus was thinking about whether or not he was going to accept the quest, he was also doing a few test flaps of his wings. He had them, might as well get used to the new muscles. Speaking of, there was also the tail! Hopefully it would be useful.

 **For exercise of your wings, the skill** _ **Flight**_ **has been created.**

 **Flight (LVL 1): Cost- Lift-off 50 MP, 1 second of flight 10 MP.**

 **It's always been man's dream to fly without mechanical assistance. Don't let your dreams be dreams.**

 **Creating the skill** _ **Flight**_ **has unlocked the skill** _ **Hover**_ **.**

 **Hover (LVL 1): Keep yourself at a level altitude for no extra mana cost. No horizontal or ascending movements while using this skill.**

" _Holy fuck, those came at a useful time._ " Rubeus looked over at Jaune, who was busy tying his rope around a branch. "You know what Arc, I'll see what I can do. Get on over here." Jaune looked at him skeptically before shrugging and undoing the rope.

"So how will this work?" Jaune looked down the cliff face, gulping when he saw just how far down he could potentially drop.

"Like this." Without giving Jaune any time to prepare, Rubeus grabbed him under his arm-pits and jumped. Jaune screamed like a little girl and screwed his eyes shut, but calmed down when he realized that the wind wasn't whipping at his face and clothes. "Wow, I wish I would have known about the screams man. I would have gotten some ear plugs." He looked down at Jaune and grinned, his helmet still hiding his mouth so Jaune didn't see it. He dropped the grin when he saw how green Jaune was getting. "What's wrong with you?"

He was answered by Jaune puking his guts up. It seemed that he still had some left in there after throwing up the first time! "What where you're up-chucking dude! I don't want to need a cleaning until after we're done in town." Not wanting to risk Jaune vomiting again, he brought the both of them down to the cliff base.

 **Quest Completed!**

 **Reward: 250 EXP**

 **Special Task: Completed!**

 **Special Task: Learn about Jaune's motion sickness.**

 **Special Reward: Barf Bag with Infinite Bottom**

 **Flight LVL up!**

 **Hover LVL up!**

Rubeus took the bag from his inventory and shoved it into Jaune's hand. "If you're going to puke, do it in that from now on." He looked at Hover and Flight before pursing his lips. Hover had leveled up Flight, so no mana was spent. And Hover only said no horizontal movement, so did that mean him moving himself or just in general? "Jaune, could you tie that rope around my waist and drag me to town?"

"Why do you want me to do that. It seems really inefficient."

"Just tell me if you can do it."

Jaune clammed up. "I mean, you seem kind of heavy and that would just mean that we'd take longer to get to Beacon and you wouldn't be able to lead the way and fight things that pop up…"

Rubeus took off and Hovered about a foot off the ground. "This help?"

Jaune just nodded. "Fine." He took the rope from his pack and looped it around Rubeus' waist before tying a knot, tugging on it to make sure the know was secure. "Why do you want me to do this, seriously?"

Rubeus looked around while trying to think of an answer. "Umm, think of it as a kind of training? I mean, sure I won't be as heavy as normal if I'm flying, but it'll still give you some resistance. If you want to be strong you have to train in any way possible."

 **While lying through your teeth, you created the skill** _ **Silver Tongue**_ **!**

 **Silver Tongue (LVL 1): Want to be a snake oiler? All you gotta do is lie.**

Jaune looked incredulous before he finally nodded. "Sounds good, I guess. You obviously know more about this than me." He grabbed the other end of the rope and gave it a tug to see how easy it would be pull Rubeus, and he was pleasantly surprised when the hovering man moved nearly a foot with that small effort. "This seems like it won't be so bad!"

Rubeus groaned and smacked his helmet. Jaune went and jinxed it for himself.

0-0-0

"Oh. My. Gods." Jaune and Rubeus finally made it to Beacon where Jaune promptly fell on his face. Around an hour ago, he had gotten slower and started to show strain in pulling Rubeus.

 **Flight LVL up! (MAX)**

 **Hover LVL up! (MAX)**

 **Flight: Lift off now only costs 25 MP, no upkeep mana cost. + Increased flight speed!**

 **Hover: Now you can move horizontally. ++Increased movement speed!**

" _Already broke something! New record_." Rubeus stopped hovering and kneeled to look at Jaune. "You gonna live there, buddy? This should be easy for you."

Jaune coughed into the ground before shakily rising to his feet. "Yeah, I'll be alright. Thanks for helping me get here, but this is probably where we should part ways. Bye." He waved at Rubeus before heading off down the street. He didn't even look back.

Rubeus shook his head and huffed. He stopped and grinned when he realized what this meant. He wasn't tied down by anybody now and he could go grinding! He opened his menu and dropped a waypoint where he was standing before heading right back out the main gate. There were a few people that pointed at him and whispered to each other, but he didn't pay them any mind. As soon as he was far enough down the path that he couldn't see the gate anymore, he veered off into the woods.

"I wonder what kind of skills Kaiser has that make it a good mob control class?" He opened up the skills tab and saw the reason why.

 **Dragon Slash (LVL 0): 3 hit combo that sends out waves of flames from your sword, able to hit up to 8 enemies at a reduced damage.**

 **Flame Surge (LVL 0): Sends out a blast of flame that can hit up to 6 enemies.**

 **Scale Skin (LVL 0) [Passive]: Increases damage resistance and decreases knockback.**

 **Air Lift (LVL 0): Burst forward while in the air with a blast of fire! Double jumping with style! Increases speed and max speed.**

He looked at the max levels for each and clicked his tongue. The lowest was Scale Skin at ten, then came Air Lift at fifteen, and Flame Surge and Dragon Slash were both up at fifty. He put a point into each one, praying to the makers that they would also be able to be leveled up through action.

 **Dragon Slash (LVL 1): 3 hit combo, 50% damage on each strike.**

 **Flame Surge (LVL 1): Cost- 7 MP. Hits twice, up to 6 enemies, and 113% damage each hit.**

 **Scale Skin (LVL 1): DEF +20, Knockback Resistance +4%.**

 **Air Lift (LVL 1): Cost- 10 MP, speed and max speed increase of +6.**

"While that defense increase is nice, I wasn't expecting the double jump to require mana. And the Dragon Slash doesn't need mana while the Flame Surge does? What kind of logic is that?" There was a growling off to his right and he stepped back away from it, wondering why his Detect Danger didn't go off. A bear looking monster lumbered out of the woods. "Observe."

 **Ursa Minor**

 **LVL: 4**

 **Observe level up!**

 **LVL 5: Increased information gain.**

Rubeus sighed and put his sword back on his hip. "That's why it didn't go off. This thing is too low a level to actually pose a threat to me. This gives me a chance to see if the skills can be leveled up." He switched over to Defender Mode and watched as his health bar went up by a few hundred points. He felt heavier as well, more solid. "Come and get some, Teddy."

The Ursa Minor roared and swiped at Rubeus, only dealing one point of health damage. A small image of the Scale Skin perk showed up on the HUD with a small circle around it, a small bar of green appearing on the edge of the circle. That cinched it, the skills could be leveled up just like the others. Time to just sit here and get wailed on by the Minor.

0-0-0

 **Scale Skin LVL up!**

 **Scale Skin (MAX): Def +200, Knockback Resistance +40%.**

Rubeus blinked and chuckled. His health had dropped to the point it had been at without the Defender Mode. Strangely enough, this Ursa thing just kept on going, like it had some sort of infinite stamina. Oh well, he didn't have a use for it anymore, so he decided to use Dragon slash on it. It went down on the first strike and the skill symbol appeared on the HUD where Scale Skin used to be. Sadly, the Ursa hadn't given him any EXP or loot. The EXP was understandable, as it limited higher level characters from farming tons of low level enemies for easy EXP, but the lack of an item drop was just probably bad RNG.

He could kill two birds with one stone, he realized. If he started a train of higher level enemies using Air Lift, he could turn around and fight them using Dragon Slash and Flame surge. Then, when he ran out of mana, he could just use Dragon slash to clear out any remaining enemies and rest up. Or just use mana potions if any enemies dropped some. Back to the grind!

0-0-0

 **Air Lift LVL up!**

 **Air Lift (MAX): Cost- 5 MP, speed and max speed increase of +20.**

 **Dragon Slash LVL up!**

 **Dragon Slash (LVL 25):** **3 hit combo, 75% damage on each strike.**

 **Flame Surge LVL up!**

 **Flame Surge (LVL 25): Cost- 7 MP. Hits twice, up to 6 enemies, and 170% damage each hit.**

Rubeus groaned as he sat back against a tree. The only things he had run in to were those Ursa Minors and some new enemies called Beowolf Pups. He had picked up some more Grimm Plates and Bone Fragments, as well as some healing and mana potions, but nothing else. It almost made the grind not really feel worth it.

 **!WARNING!**

 **Mob Boss Triggered!**

 **Teddy the Deaddy**

Rubeus' Danger Detection went off and the tree he was sitting against burst into a rain of splinters. He was knocked across the small clearing and he smacked into a tree on the other side. He reoriented himself and faced the enemy. It looked like one of those Ursa Minors, but much larger and much more pissed. "Observe."

 **Teddy the Deaddy**

 **LVL 20**

 **Mob Boss**

 **Has killed a few new adventurers in these woods. Keep away from his porridge.**

Rubeus kept his sights on Teddy the entire time he was reading, and it seemed that the monster was waiting for him to initiate combat now. It looked slow, but there was no doubt that its attacks packed power. Rubeus started to strafe to the left and Teddy mirrored him, both keeping eyes on each other. The way Teddy moved that the legs would be a target for sure, and then the arms. If Rubeus could disable at least one of each, victory was assured.

 **For creation of sound tactics, +1 WIS and INT!**

Rubeus glared at the message box that popped up and Teddy took the chance created by the distraction. It rushed Rubeus, but was slow enough that Rubeus was able to dodge out of the way, avoiding being crushed by the massive bear. He slashed at the back-right leg and cut half of the leg away. Teddy gave off an agonized roar and twisted around to deliver a swipe, but Rubeus was anticipating that as well, so he ducked under the paw and slashed at the arm that was outstretched. This time, the entire limb came off, and Teddy roared again. Rubeus jumped back out of Teddy's attack range and sent out Flame Surges until Teddy was no more.

 **Achievement Get!**

 **Killed your first Mob Boss!**

 **Title [Apprentice Mob Dropper] gained!**

 **+500 Lien!**

 **Teddy the Deaddy = 2,000 EXP**

 **Level Up! Level Up!**

 **HP: 1,521(+20%)=1,825**

 **MP: 666**

 **\+ Ursa Pelt (Large)**

 **\+ Helm of the Moon Bear**

 **\+ 200 Lien**

 **\+ Moon Bear Paws**

"Cool, first mob boss leveled me up twice. Sad that it was only nine levels above me. Let's see what this title does." He opened his title menu and inspected the title he just received.

 **Apprentice Mob Dropper**

 **Grants increased drops from mobs. Includes Lien drops.**

Rubeus snorted. "This would have been nice to have a few hours ago when I was farming for skill EXP." He opened his inventory and saw that the Moon Bear Paws were actually an armor piece. They were part of the **[Moon Bear]** set. He had picked up the gauntlets, which gave a minor boost to defense and a minor boost to strength. Inspecting them gave no real information other than they were part of the set. He looked at the helmet next.

 **Helm of the Moon Bear**

 **Wearing this increases strength by 20% and DEF by 10%. Also grants night vision. Disables friend-or-foe marking.**

 **It is said that Ursas were first made in moonlight, and the moon carved into this bone plate helmet lends to that theory.**

Friend-or-foe marking was a term that was familiar, but Rubeus didn't know exactly what it meant in this context. He brought up the help menu and searched for the term. It read that the friend-or-foe marking would make it so that any person marked as friend would not be damaged by an attack while enemies would. It basically took off friendly fire. He also looked up the mob boss term, making sure that it was the same he was familiar with. It stated that if someone stayed in an area killing mobs for too long, a powerful mob boss would spawn to deter the behavior.

He rolled out his neck and stretched. This seemed to be a good stopping point for the day. He travelled back to town after equipping the title he gained, just in case he ran into any stray mobs. Sadly, he reached the town gate without coming under attack. He nodded to the gateman and wandered around looking for an inn. He found one not long after turning off the main street. It looked nice enough, so he walked in. He was almost knocked over by a speedy red blur, but he caught himself in time. He also caught whatever had hit him in his arms.

"Hey, let me go!" Whatever… whoever he had caught was struggling in his arms. He looked down and saw that he was holding a girl that was wearing a red cape and had a scythe strapped to her back.

" _Observe._ "

 **Ruby Rose**

 **Reaper**

 **LVL 15**

 **Can only fight with her scythe, trained by her late mother in the art of reaping.**

Rubeus let go of her. "Sorry, didn't mean to do that. It was instinct."

Ruby patted down her skirt and pouted. Good gods that pout could be weaponized. "Yeah. I'm sorry about running into you." Without saying anything else she ducked around Rubeus and walked out the door. Rubeus looked around to see if there was anybody watching, but everyone seemed to be minding their own business. He walked up to the counter and rapped on the wood.

"Hello, and welcome to the Signal Inn. How many nights would you like to stay?" There was a cheery employee that automatically serviced Rubeus.

"How much for three nights?"

The employee ran the numbers in her head. "That would be seventy Lien, or one hundred with meals included."

Rubeus made a show of putting his hand in his pocket before he removed one hundred Lien from his inventory. The sack of coins rattled as he set it down on the counter. "I'll take the meal option please."

"Thank you, please give me one moment to make sure this is the right amount." The employee started to count out the Lien, so Rubeus figured he might as well try observing them.

 **Millie Innes**

 **NPC: Inn Keeper**

 **LVL 9**

Wait, NPCs got levels? And she looked older than Rubeus was, but she was only level nine? He was brought out of his musing when Millie nodded and swept the coins back into the pouch. "Everything checks out." She turned around and pulled a key off the rack. "Here is your key to room twelve sir. I hope you have a pleasant stay, and breakfast is served from six to eight."

Rubeus gave a small nod to her and walked up the small staircase. It was only wide enough for one person, oddly enough, in an inn this large. The stairs ended and opened up to a small hallway. Even numbers were on the right while odd numbers were on the left. He followed the wall until he got to his door, opening it with the key.

The room was nothing special, just a small area with a window, single bed, and a nightstand. Rubeus tossed the key into his inventory and took off his armor before throwing that in his inventory as well. This place was full of adventurers, so he probably didn't have to worry about thieves or the like, so he threw his sword in as well. He flopped down onto the bed and gave a sigh of relief when he felt the soft comfort of real bedding instead of straw.

He raised a hand to the ceiling before making a fist. "Day one, down. Schedule for day two, more grinding and get more skills. Maybe go to the Adventurer's Guild and pick up some quests." Having stated his plans, he began to drift off to sleep.

Hopefully, tomorrow would be even more rewarding.


	3. Party Up

**Reviewer Acknowledgement**

 **Blu3 Fir3- This is not in the canon universe, and Ruby's mother was alive long enough to train Ruby in the basic use of the scythe as a weapon in this universe. So this was not an error. Sorry.**

 **Guest 1- Sorry that you find gamer stories confusing?**

0-0-0

 **You've rested in a bed! HP and MP fully restored!**

 **Well Rested EXP boost gained! (3h 00min)**

Rubeus sat up and cracked his neck before stretching his arms in front of him, feeling the nice pop of his elbows. He threw the covers off him before standing up and equipping his armor and sword. "Should probably go to the guild and pick up quests or jobs first before heading out to grind. And stop talking to myself out loud." He nodded to himself and steeped out of his room before turning back and making the bed. Just because he was now an adventurer or hero or whatever didn't give him the right to just leave the bed looking messy.

He stepped out into the hall again and closed the door. When he reached the stairs, he had to press himself against the wall so that the person coming up could pass him. She was a tall blonde with generous assets. She had huge tracks of land. Some good gozongas. She spared him a glance before heading off down the hall. When he descended the stairs, he checked the time and was disappointed to see that it was after eight. He didn't feel hungry, but some food would have been nice.

When he stepped out of the inn, he did a check to see if the waypoint he had placed was still there and saw that it was. Going by the fact that most guild halls were placed in the center of cities, he just had to go the opposite direction of the marker.

 **For good deductive logic, WIS gained 1 point.**

He closed the message box and walked off down the street. As it was later in the morning, the streets were already filled with plenty of people. Most of them were adventurers, but there were plenty of civilians and NPCs. Wait, wouldn't civilians be NPCs as well? Unless a player could just choose to be a civilian, or work an NPC job only. Are NPCs even NPCs in this world?

 **Quest Created!**

 **Find out more about the world you now live in.**

 **Objective: Find a library.**

 **Task: Find out about NPCs and Heroes.**

 **Secret Task 1: ?**

 **Secret Task 2: ?**

 **Rewards: 2,000 EXP, skill book, 500 Lien**

 **[Accept][Decline]**

" _Accept._ " The window closed and Rubeus changed course, heading off down a side street. It would be harder to find the library by himself, so he decided to ask a civilian. Talking on a crowded street would be annoying. He saw one sitting on a doorstep and walked up to him. "Hello, I was wondering if you could tell me how to get to the library in this town."

The civilian looked up and his eyes widened. "Uh, umm, yes?" He was licking his lips nervously. "It's down the main street and then you take a right at Hemingwin Way. It's hard to miss from there."

Rubeus nodded and took a few Lien from his inventory, handing it to the civilian. "Thank you for the info." He went back to the main street and walked off towards Hemingwin Way. When he turned the corner, he saw why the library would be hard to miss. It looked like a temple, with gleaming white pillars. There were lions carved from limestone sitting on the stairs. He climbed the stairs and took off his helmet, latching it to his side.

There were no doors, so he just walked in and stopped in awe. There were so many shelves, just filled with books and scrolls, and the smell of paper permeated the air. "Hello, sir, how may I help you." Rubeus was startled out of his stupor by a worker of the library.

"Yes, I'm here to find some books about jobs." He honestly didn't know what to say to this worker.

"Those would be in section W, sir. Is there anything else you are looking for?"

HE wracked his head for anything else to ask for. He remembered that there was the glow around the bandits he had fought and that there was a gauge with a question mark next to it. "Yes, is there anything about the field that surrounds people?"

The worker opened their mouth and narrowed their eyes. "If you're talking about Aura, then that would be in section A."

 **Secret Task 1 Failed!**

 **[X] Don't raise suspicion.**

"Thank you." Rubeus walked off towards section A first. Having something unanswered in his status page annoyed him. To speed up progress on finding the books he was looking for, he used _Observe_ on the shelves he passed. He made it halfway through the section and leveled up _Observe_ five more times.

 **Aura: The Power of the Soul**

 **Would you like to use this skill book?**

 **[Yes][No]**

Realizing that practically eating a book in a library would be a bad idea, Rubeus hit the no option and instead got to reading the book. Thankfully, it was rather small and only took him thirty minutes to read enough to unlock the aura bar.

 **Aura Unlocked!**

 **AUP: 1,901 (HP*1.25)**

 **Aura acts as a sort of shield or energy source, depending on how you use it. The people of this world use aura instead of mana, so mages have increased aura pools compared to warriors. Scales off INT. (Every 5 INT = 1% more)**

 **Secret Task 2: Success!**

 **+5 AP**

Now that he had gotten the aura situation over with, Rubeus went to find the book about jobs. He passed by a few people that kind of just faded into the background, so unexceptional he paid no further mind to them. He browsed the shelves again, still using observe to speed up the process. It didn't even level up before he found the book he was looking for. When he picked it up, it didn't give him any sort of prompt to use it, so it wasn't a skill book of any sort. Luckily, he didn't have to read any further than the first few pages.

"There are four casts in the kingdoms. Heroes, Governing, Soldiers, and Needs Protection. The Needs Protection cast, or the NPCs, generally take care of most jobs, ranging from general upkeep of buildings to blacksmithing. They do not fight, which is why they are called the Needs Protection cast, and they are protected by Heroes and Soldiers. Heroes are held in higher regards than soldiers and are given more privileges."

 **Quest Completed!**

 **Rewards: 2,000 EXP, skill book, 500 Lien**

 **LVL Up!**

"Is there a reason why you're reading that out loud?" A voice behind Rubeus made him jump and he dropped the book. It was grabbed out of the air by the person that had spoken before it could hit the floor.

"Good freaking-!" Rubeus spun around holding his hand to his chest. "Did you have to do that?"

The person was wearing a hood that covered up most of their face, but by looking at their lips and judging from their voice Rubeus could tell it was a female. The words **Rogue Assassin** hovered over her head. "Seeing as how you would probably attack me if I tapped your shoulder, judging from your reaction, I opted to speak to you from a distance."

Rubeus looked the mysterious figure up and down before using _Observe_ on her.

 **Blake Belladonna**

 **Rogue Assassin**

 **Race: Faunus**

 **LVL: 22**

 **Blake left her group of "Rights Activists" after realizing that they used their group name to get away with killing innocent human NPCs.**

 **Observe LVL up!**

After reading that, Rubeus looked at the assassin and responded to her question. "I find that I retain knowledge better if I read out loud. I apologize if I was bothering anyone."

Blake let out a small chuckle. "I doubt you were bothering anyone. Not many heroes come into a library wanting to read non-essential books. And even more rare are warrior classes doing that. Is there any reason you're here, or is that too personal?"

It seemed that she was careful around new people, if she thought that something like that would be too personal. "No, it's not too personal. I just got into the whole hero business and wanted to know more about it all. I wasn't well schooled earlier in life."

Blake's head tilted to the left slightly. "If you didn't know even the basics, you must have been especially sheltered or far off from society."

Rubeus had to hold in a laugh when he remembered where he came into the world at. "Yes, you could say that I lived in a cave for my entire life. Every now and again someone would pass by and give me a book to read."

 **Silver Tongue LVL up! Silver Tongue LVL up! Silver Tongue LVL up!**

Blake hummed, thankfully seeing nothing wrong in the story. "That was nice of them. You seem well equipped. Where did you get your armor?"

What is her angle? "I got it from my predecessor."

Her lips pursed. "You took it off a corpse?"

Rubeus' eyes narrowed. "No, I got it from my predecessor. Along with my weapon." Deciding that he had been interrogated enough, Rubeus moved to get away from Blake. "Nice talking to you."

She didn't move to stop him from leaving. "Good talk."

When Rubeus stepped out of the library he put his helmet back on and moved down the steps. Now to get to the guild and pick up those quests. Do heroes have to get identification at guilds or are the titles enough? A message popped up in his peripheral vision.

 _ **Detect Danger**_

His hand went to the hilt of his sword and his eyes swept the crowds in front of him. It didn't seem that anyone was even paying attention to him. The warning was still up though, so he was still being followed, which meant that whoever or whatever it was stalked behind him. He kept his hand on the hilt and moved off down the street. The warning would disappear every now and again but appear just a few seconds later. They were obviously good at stalking a person, probably keeping behind just enough to not raise onlooker suspicion but able to keep their target in sight.

Rubeus took a right at the street corner, seeing if the tail would still follow him. And not five seconds later the message appeared again, along with a message saying _Detect Danger_ leveled up. He went a block down and made another right, still followed. Going down the street at a slightly faster pace garnered a few eyes, but he didn't care. Taking another right, he broke into a sprint towards the last street corner he would be taking. When he turned the final corner, he threw himself into a shadowy alcove and controlled his breathing.

 **Skill** _ **Sneak**_ **has been created.**

 **Hide yourself in shadows and quiet your footsteps, control your breathing and prowl for unsuspecting prey.**

 **Sneak (LVL 1): 5% chance of no detection while active, additional 100% of active skill while in darkness.**

 **Current chance of no detection- 10%.**

A person blew by his hiding spot without noticing him there. He stuck his head out to see who it was and was startled to see that it was Blake. Why was she following him like this now? She could have attacked him in the library with less people around. He saw her slow down and she glanced about, realizing that she had lost sight of him. He slid back into the shadows before she turned around to double back. When she was walking by his hiding spot, his arm shot out and grabbed her arm. He covered her mouth with his free hand and twisted her arm behind her back, pulling it just enough to be uncomfortable.

"What do you want with me, Assassin?" He stopped her other hand from going to a dagger hidden in her cloak. "And no lies. I'm going to take my hand off your mouth and you're not going to yell or scream. Do you understand?" She struggled and tried to reach for her dagger again, but Rubeus grabbed both of her wrists and held her arms against her back. "I said, do you understand? I don't want to hurt you."

She stilled before giving a slight nod. Rubeus slowly uncovered her mouth, waiting for her to try and shout. He heard her lick her lips before she spoke. "Are you with them, to bring me back?"

Rubeus was confused before he remembered what her story was. She ran away from a group, this group obviously was doing some bad things, she was probably important to someone in that group or to the group as a whole. They would want her back. "No, and I don't know what group you're talking about. I was telling the truth when I said that I lived in a cave my entire life. Who is this group, or these people you speak of?"

"Could you let go of me first?" She wriggled her wrists in Rubeus' grasp and he let them go. She rubbed at them to get rid of the stiffness. "If you don't know about them, then I shouldn't really tell you about them."

Rubeus' eyes narrowed. "Okay, no, you do not get to do that. You just chased me down after we had a nice civil talk. And I can tell that you were going to hurt me." She opened her mouth to speak but he shut her down. "Don't even try to deny it. What is the group?"

She worked her jaw and chewed on her tongue lightly. She relented and let out a quiet sigh. "The Crimson Fang, or at least, that's what I call them. They go by the name The White Fang Clan, and they're only open to Faunus heroes joining them. They used to fight for the right reasons, but they went off the path. I left them after I realized that they were wrong in their views. I just assumed that you were with them because you looked like you would fit right in, maybe even too well."

"Why do you say that?"

She pointed at him. "Just take a look at yourself. You have three Faunus traits! I haven't even seen someone else with even two before today."

Rubeus flicked his wings and swung his tail about, thinking that was all she was talking about before he remembered that he also had horns. So this group was some sort of terrorist cult or something, saying Faunus were the superior race most likely. Rubeus would be a poster boy if they got him to join the cause. "I see what you mean. I will be sure to be on the lookout for any that seem to be part of the group. I need to go to the guild hall to get some jobs, would you like to come with."

She raised an eyebrow and crossed her arms beneath her chest. "You want me to come with you after I chased you with the intent to hurt you? You must be either too trusting, or strong enough to not worry about random attackers."

Rubeus shrugged and pushed past her. "No clue which one, but I'm going either way. Come with or not, your choice." He walked out onto the street and got his bearings before heading off towards the guild hall. Blake hopped on her toes before deciding to follow after him. "Question for you."

"Yes?"

"Where is the guild hall?" Rubeus stopped when he heard the smacking of flesh and turned to see Blake with her hand planted against her face.

"Just follow the yellow brick path. The Emerald Tower is at the end of it." She took her hand off her face and stared at him. "Got that?"

He just looked at her and worked his jaw. "The yellow brick road?" She nodded. "To the Emerald Tower?" She nodded again, looking more irritated. "Is there a Wizard of Oz there, willing to grant one wish?"

"No, he isn't a wizard. Guild master Ozpin in a Seer, and his assistant is Goodwitch a powerful Warlock."

It was Rubeus' turn to smack his face, but he hit his helmet instead. When the ringing died down he just huffed. "We're off to see the wizard, the wonderful wizard of Oz."

"I feel like you didn't even listen to what I just said."

"Shh, I'm living in the moment and you're killing it."

0-0-0

Turns out, the Emerald Tower is actually more like a five-story rectangular building. It had a green roof though! It was in a higher district than the Signal Inn Rubeus was staying at, so he got a good look at the area around. It was pretty nice up here, if you weren't bothered by heights and very steep hills. There was a statue in front of the building that looked like an older Beowulf, so Rubeus used _Observe_ on it.

 **Gorgus, the Stone Stuck Wolf**

 **LVL 32**

 **Area Mini Boss**

 **This Beowulf lies in wait for the perfect time to strike, when someone will cry out wolf and none shall believe it to be alive, for it was always where it is as stone.**

Rubeus moved Blake behind him and pulled out his sword. "What are you doing? The guild hall is right there." She pointed to the obvious door of the hall.

"Shush." Rubeus stepped back, away from the 'statue' while pulling Blake along with. "That statue isn't a statue. And it's too high level for me to take on my own." There was a cracking of stone and an ear of the wolf twitched. "While I have it distracted, go in for a back stab. I can tank hits while you put out the damage." The stone cracked again, and the head moved, two glowing red eyes focusing on the two heroes. "Go!"

Blake disappeared onto a low roof and the Beowulf _moved_. It was like a bullet, darting of its stand to strike at Rubeus, who had moved his sword up just in time to block the first swipe. He missed the second swipe and got hit in the torso, which knocked the air out of him and he went skidding across the cobbled street. A shadow dropped onto its back and it roared as a spray of red jetted out of its back. It thrashed around and whipped towards its new target. Rubeus gathered all the air he could hold in his lungs and roared.

 **Skill created,** _ **Roar**_ **!**

 **Pull enemy aggro for a set time within a set range.**

 **Roar (LVL 1): 20 sec, 5m.**

The Beowulf turned back towards him and resumed it attack. He held up against its blows this time, anticipating the use of both its claws. A new message popped up, but he was too zoned in on blocking the attacks to look at it at the moment. Blake dropped down on it again and got a stab into its neck. It threw her off and slumped against the wall next to it before it growled. It swung its left claw in a clearly telegraphed attack and it seemed to slow down before coming to a stop. Rubeus looked at it, waiting for it to resume motion, but it looked like it wasn't going to move any time soon. He looked at Blake and she seemed even more confused.

"What the hell?" She slid against the wall before nudging at the Beowulf with her foot and jumping back. It still didn't move. "What's going on?"

Rubeus shrugged and took a look at the message that had appeared before.

 **Skill created,** _ **Block**_ **!**

 **Defend against enemy attacks and be a bastion of strength! Works even better with a shield.**

 **Block (LVL 1): 5% damage reduction. Extra 50% with a shield.**

 **Skill created by creating** _ **Block**_ **!** _ **Parry and Riposte**_ **!**

 **Throw your enemy for a loop when you knock their attack aside and crush them.**

 **Parry and Riposte (LVL 1): 50% extra damage on riposte.**

 **Current enemy locked in Parry and Riposte tutorial: Gorgus, the Stone Stuck Wolf.**

Rubeus looked at the text and then looked at the Beowulf stuck in the tutorial and laughed. "Hey, Blake, can you stab it real quick? I want to check something."

She looked at him and then to the Beowulf. "Fine, but if it kills me I am haunting you." She stepped up to it and stabbed it in the leg. Blood oozed out of the wound, but it still didn't move.

"GG:EZ, Gorgus. No RE." Rubeus went to town on Gorgus, unleashing Flame Strikes and Dragon Slashes against the trapped Grimm. It died and he got a new message in his box.

 **~Hello, we notice that you have killed a strong enemy you are not supposed to kill yet. Please send in a bug report or experience report at your earliest convenience. Thank you for your time.~**

 **Mini Boss defeated!**

 **Achievement get!**

 **The Stone Crusher.**

 **Title [Tougher Than Boulders] gained!**

 **+5,000 Lien.**

 **Gorgus, the Stone Stuck Wolf = 5,250 EXP**

 **LVL Up! LVL Up! LVL Up!**

 **HP: 2,660(+20%)= 3,192**

 **MP: 1,108**

 **AUP: 3,324**

 **\+ 1,200 Lien**

 **\+ The Stony Gaze**

 **\+ Shroud of the Stone Wolf**

 **\+ Ribs of the Stone Wolf**

 **\+ Belt of the Stone Wolf**

 **\+ Pillars of the Stone Wolf**

 **\+ Shins of the Stone Wolf**

 **\+ Grips of the Stone Wolf**

 **Full set of [Stone Wolf] acquired! When equipped, slowly turn your enemies to stone and transfer drained energy to nearby allies. Crush your enemies beneath your awesome boots, and watch as their lines crumble!**

 **Tougher Than Boulders**

 **You the Rock, but not a lobster. Increase DEF by 100% and gain the ability to plant in your current position for an extra 200%. Also, gain the ability to cut through any type of rock above ground.**

 **Fortify (LVL MAX): Root yourself in position and tank blows without knockback. +200% DEF.**

Rubeus thought about the title for half a second before equipping it. It was much better than the mob drop increase. He was brought out of his inventory check when Blake tapped his shoulder. "Can I ask what that was?"

He nodded. "That was one of my skills, I think? Not really sure, but hey, the enemy is dead. That's all I need to know." He held up both his thumbs and grinned t her. She just deadpanned and rubbed at her forehead.

"Let's just get you to the guild hall so I can go." She turned around and walked towards the open door of the guild hall. You'd think that someone would have heard the commotion outside and checked what was going on. There was a shattering noise, this time the sound of glass.

 **Dimensional Barrier destroyed.**

 **New skill discovered** _ **Create Barrier/Destroy Barrier**_ **.**

 **Create Barrier/Destroy Barrier (LVL MAX): Cost- 500mp. This allows you to create a mirror dimension that can be filled with enemies of your choosing. (Must be enemies you have fought and defeated before.)**

So, a way to grind within the city and have absolutely no consequences. Wait, if he could fill it with enemies of his choosing, that meant he could just not fill it and go wherever he wanted without having to worry about anything. Broken ability is broken. He followed after Blake and entered the guild hall.

It seemed like a normal guild hall ground floor, with stairs off towards the back. There was a poster board stuck to the wall under the stairs that was absolutely filled with job requests. Blake was standing next to the receptionist's desk, tapping her foot and glaring at Rubeus. He went over to her, apologizing to anybody he bumped into. "Here you go. If you need me, I'll be at the job board." She walked off whispering something under her breath that Rubeus didn't catch.

He turned towards the receptionist, who was giving off a professional smile, but Rubeus could see that she was slightly nervous. "Hello, I haven't seen you in here before. Is it safe to assume that you are here to register as a hero and get your license?" One of her bunny ears twitched, only slightly.

Rubeus nodded. "Yes, that would be correct. I also came here to pick up a job or two, but I can see that'll have to wait until I get this settled." He used _Observe_ on her while she was busy rummaging in a drawer for whatever it was she needed.

 **Silk Scarlatina**

 **Field Medic**

 **LVL: 54**

 **Takes care of receptionist duty while not in battle. She was the motivation for her daughter to be an Alchemist.**

"Fill out this form and sign at the bottom, and you'll get your license." She handed him a paper and he brought it over to one of the nearby tables that didn't have people sitting at it. The form was pretty basic, like name, race, hero title. Surprisingly enough, it didn't ask for level, which should probably be something that was asked. There was a blank spot next to potential, but he didn't know what that was for, so he let it be.

After double checking to make sure he filled out everything to the best of his abilities he walked back over to the desk and signed the paper. "I filled out everything I could, but there was something I didn't really get. What is the potential space for?"

Silk cleared her throat. "Potential is a status determined by Ozpin, who you will be going to see. I apologize for not telling you before, it must have slipped my mind." She handed the form back to him.

Rubeus took the form and hummed in acknowledgement. "Thank you. I guess he's on the top floor?" She simply nodded, and Rubeus thanked her before heading up the stairs. He ignored any eyes that followed his progress. Screw climbing stairs in armor, it sucks. He reached the top floor and saw a sign that pointed him to the guild master's room and eh went that way. Simple directions for simple people.

When he approached the door, he heard someone speaking. Not wanting to eavesdrop, he knocked on it to show that he was there. The voice stopped for a second before it called out slightly louder. "Come in."

Rubeus turned the knob and walked into the room, softly shutting the door behind him. "Rubeus?"

He turned around and saw that Jaune was sitting in the room, across a desk from the one he could easily assume was Ozpin. "What are you doing in her Arc? I thought you'd already be out there on a job."

He scratched at the back of his neck. "I would, but they said that I was too weak to go out on my own. I was talking to guild master Ozpin to see who would be willing to go with me."

Rubeus looked towards Ozpin and he gave a slight nod. "You are here to get your potential checked." The way he said it made it more of a statement of fact rather than a question. Rubeus slid him the form and Ozpin looked over it, his face a stoic mask. But, his eyes held a gleam of something. "Interesting. If you would hold out your hand for me to check your potential." Rubeus held out his hand and Ozpin grasped it firmly in between his hands. He whispered something under his breath and a light green glow emanated from his palms. His hand twitched and his eyes shot open.

Jaune was watching this with confusion. Rubeus met his eyes and just shrugged, indicating that he had no idea what was up. Ozpin let go of his hand and pulled out a fountain pen, scribbling three S's onto the potential blank. "What does three S's mean?"

Ozpin handed the paper back to Rubeus. "It means that you have great potential, Mister Mors." He glanced over at Jaune before his brow raised. "How would you like to work with Mister Arc?"

Rubeus looked at Jaune for a second before shrugging a shoulder. "We could party up, sure. I made part of the journey here with him."

"Excellent. As soon as you get your license, go to the desk next to Missus Scarlatina and establish your party and leader. Have a good day." He pulled out a stack of papers from a drawer and got to work on them.

Rubeus walked out of the room with Jaune following him. "Thanks for this Rubeus. I don't think anyone would want to party up with me."

Rubeus simply patted Jaune's shoulder, and Jaune grimaced before rubbing at it. "No problem, Arc. What are friends for?"

 **Quest created, Party Hard.**

 **Establish your party and gain at least two more members.**

 **Reward: 10,000 Lien, 10,000 EXP, Ring of Leadership**

Rubeus grinned and rubbed his hands together. "Excellent, excellent."

Jaune just gave him a weird look, as he followed Rubeus down into the pit of heroes. This was his new life, adventuring with this really weird dude. Hopefully it wouldn't get any weirder.

Oh, he just jinxed it.


End file.
